Chris Howlett

Bible Reading Plans

Many people make it a habit of reading through the Bible in a year. This is a great habit. If you have not read the Bible, you need to add this to your list of New Year's Resolutions.

I have found two new places on the internet that are pretty helpful.

One is the YouVersion.com site. Check out the reading plans here. You can even download a free app for your iPhone or Blackberry for this one.

The other is a new translation, the New English Translation. They have put together an online reading plan here. Nice translation with extensive notes. You can purchase at a store, read online, or download for free in several formats. You can also download an inexpensive version for your Kindle. Sweet!

Start the New Year off right, reading God's Word!

What Is the Meaning of Life?

 
My message Road of Intellect: Christmas Road Trip, part 3 was about affirming people who have been on an intellectual journey, asking questions about faith. God does not ask that you turn off your brain when you walk into the doors of the sanctuary. To the contrary, as the architect of our amazing intellect, God's desire is that we avail ourselves of the amazing capacity we have for reason and scientific inquiry.

Charles Wesley was a gifted poet and hymn writer. Some question whether the Methodist Revival in England in the 18th century would have gone anywhere without Charles' music. In the quote above he longs for the time when knowledge, the expanding field of human intellect, would join forces with a thriving piety, a people dedicated wholly to serving God's purposes. Basically, he wanted Christians to use their brains!

I don't want to rehash the issues raised in the message, you can go online and listen or download when it gets posted. What I want to do is explore another question. Questions are good. The first action the magi took upon observing the star must have been to ask a question: "What does this mean?" Questions sometimes lead to answers which often lead to more questions. The most fundamental of all questions is the existential one: Why do I exist?

Libraries are full of volumes dedicated to this question and even dedicated to the question of why we ask questions. Philosophy is one of those disciplines that continues to grow in volume and complexity with each passing generation. In our post-modern times, philosophy has become a kind of king of disciplines in which all questions lead back to fundamental questions philosophy is asking. But there is no more fundamental question than that of existence. Why am I here? What is the meaning of life if there is any meaning at all?

Immediately I am thinking of what the response of some of my good friends might be to this question. They might say something like, "Oh, boy, you ask too many questions." Or, "That's the problem with education, you get a little and then you're basically useless!" These are well-meaning friends, and at the end of the day, they may be right!

But it doesn't stop me from wondering.

For one who is committed to Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of the universe entire, this is an important question. For if God was willing to sacrifice his Son for human life, then human life must have meaning, a meaning that is far beyond simply existence as a random conglomeration of nucleic acids.

The authors of the Westminster Catechism gave a relatively simple answer to this most complex and confusing of questions: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." I really like this, however, it is not a logical answer. The question reads: "What is the chief end of man?" The question assumes one answer. Their response, however, posits two answers: glorify God AND enjoy God. Now, it might very well be that to glorify God implies that I will enjoy God, or that enjoyment of God will ensue, but that wasn't the question. The question was about what the singular goal, end, or purpose of man (humanity) is.

I do not have the time to write, nor do you probably the time to read, a full blown argument about what I believe to be the meaning of life, but I do want to summarize my thoughts based on a bunch of the reading I have been doing for my dissertation, particularly, the theological reading.

The meaning of life is simple. It is, to say in one word, love. Humans were created to be loved and to love. Period. That sums up the entirety of the Old and New Testaments. It also is a very nice and neat restatement of all the theological reading I have ever done. God is love. This is what makes up God's very being and personhood. God is Trinity. The community of relations between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is being extended to include all of God's creatures and it is in this relating, to God and thus to one another, that life finds it's highest meaning.

Love. This is what gives life meaning. This is meaning. We are in relationship with God whether we realize it or not. The goal of evangelism ought to be to help people awaken to the reality of their true selves and to discover the joy and hope found in knowing they are loved.

Maybe John Lennon had it right after all, even if he didn't understand the implications: "All you need is love."

Christmas Road Trip

Rev. Jim Robinson and I came up with this sermon series idea while we were on a recent retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky. The genesis was the old road trip movies featuring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, like "Road to Zanzibar" and "Road to Morocco." The only thing the series has in common, however, with these films is the idea of a road trip and the name "Road." Although we worked on the original idea together, each of us has taken it in a little different direction.

Every person takes a different journey to discovering Jesus. The journey of curiosity is, like the shepherds of the second chapter of Luke's Gospel, a road of wondering if what you've heard about Jesus is true. People who have heard from friends that Jesus is the hope of the world and want to find out more are the spiritually curious.  They come to Jesus wanting to see for themselves. They are traveling the Road of Curiosity.

The Road of Obedience is the road taken by the angels. They were God's messengers, doing the bidding of God. People who grow up with a church background often come to Jesus on the road of obedience because they have a religious upbringing. There is both baggage and luggage on this road. Baggage represents some of the negative stuff we carry with us that we might want to leave behind, while luggage is some of the good things we learned along the way that will continue to serve us well in the future.

The Road of Intellect was traveled by the Magi, the wise men from the East. They were scholars and they came by way of asking questions. We see the star, but what does it mean? Who is this king? Why is he king? The intellectual journey of the Magi ultimately led them to a posture of worship. Jesus definitely does not ask you to check your brain at the door of the church. If you're traveling the road of intellect, bring your questions.

Joseph and Mary were traveling the Road of Desperation. They were homeless, had an "unplanned" pregnancy, were heavily taxed by the government, and most certainly were shunned by others due to their non-traditional arrangement. People on the road of desperation come to Jesus when they hit rock bottom. When the only way to look is up, oftentimes people see Jesus.

Jesus himself was journeying by way of the Road of Sacrifice. The sacrifice he offered was the sacrifice of God becoming human, the Incarnation, and the sacrifice of his life for the sins of the world. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world by the greatest sacrifice of all times.

Christmas Road Trip is going to be an exciting journey as we explore the Christmas story from a little different perspective. Check it out at www.christchurchlex.com.